Steven Gerrard wants Liverpool to sign another Southampton player, and it’s easy to see why.
Liverpool have signed five players from their Premier League rivals in recent seasons, and most have worked out well. Adam Lallana left Southampton for Anfield in 2014, costing £25m. After struggling initially, the midfielder has developed into a key player for Jurgen Klopp.
Dejan Lovren joined Liverpool in the same window, and has been a qualified success. Rickie Lambert’s move didn’t work out and left in 2015, a year after joining his boyhood club.
Nathaniel Clyne is in his second season at Anfield and has cemented his place as the first-choice right-back. While Sadio Mane has been one of the signings of this season.
Klopp’s side have badly missed the Senegalese forward since he departed for the African Cup of Nations.
Cringe overload https://t.co/1affwXhGBu
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 22, 2017
While opposition fans might mock Liverpool’s eagerness to sign players from the south coast team, it’s easy to see why they continue to do so.
Southampton have a successful academy, that has produced players like Lallana, Gareth Bale and Luke Shaw, and they evidently have a great scouting system.
They signed Sadio Mane for £11.8m from Red Bull Salzburg in 2014, and have picked-up key players from Celtic in recent seasons.
Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk have all signed for Southampton from the Scottish club.
Forster has developed into one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League, Wanyama has excelled since joining Spurs from the Saints last summer and Van Dijk has been linked with a number of big moves.
Gerrard wants Liverpool to sign the player.
He's a wanted man https://t.co/cyUjzmR9hd
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 8, 2016
“Who I think we need, I would go and try and bid for Van Dijk from Southampton,” Gerrard said on BT Sport.
“But we’ve had enough of their players so that will probably go down like a lead balloon.”
Something tells us that Liverpool fans will agree with Gerrard.
Van Dijk has been one of the best defenders in the Premier League this season. According to football statistics website Who Scored, the 25-year-old averages a rating of 7.4 out of 10 per game.
Liverpool, as they showed in the 3-2 loss to Swansea City on Saturday, are also somewhat vulnerable at the back.
Terrible result for Liverpool https://t.co/QBssVDi1Nu
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 21, 2017
Van Dijk is a doubt for Southampton’s game against Liverpool in the EFL Cup semi-final second-leg.
The Dutch defender was substituted as an injury precaution in the second-half of Southampton’s 3-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday.
He has been linked with moves to Liverpool and Manchester United in recent months, as well as a £50m move to Manchester City.
Liverpool are yet to sign a player in the current window. Following their 3-2 loss to Swansea City on Saturday, Klopp voiced his frustration at being unable to add to his squad.
“I understand it is absolutely normal that people ask whether we should have brought players in,” the Liverpool manager said.
“The situation is yes, on the one side pretty simple, but on the other hand it is pretty difficult. It is not that we don’t want to bring players in. We do. But the thing is, the players we want because we think they help us, the clubs don’t sell. It is not about money in this situation, it is the winter transfer window.
“Clubs are saying ‘No, we have half a year to go, we cannot find another player like this, we prefer to take money in the summer than a few pounds more in the winter than whatever’. So it is pretty easy. You see the situation. It’s tight, it’s close, we know that, but if the right decision is not possible in signing the right player then you cannot make the wrong transfer.”
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